Shout out to the keeper. Kelly will get the headlines but i think Hampton put in a herculean effort.
Also Spain's finishing was just diabolical.
Also Spain's finishing was just diabolical.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The 2024-2025 Football Thread
- Thread starter Scepticalscribe
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I will forget this euro fast now, and let England have their victory and enjoy it as they want.
The rest of many other’s moves on to Nations League, where England is out, and won’t bother us.
How did Spain play? Were they bad or England good?
Did any one of you had the possibility to watch? - I didn’t.
Yes, penalties is cruel, but fun to watch, unless our team looses 🤬
The rest of many other’s moves on to Nations League, where England is out, and won’t bother us.
How did Spain play? Were they bad or England good?
Did any one of you had the possibility to watch? - I didn’t.
Yes, penalties is cruel, but fun to watch, unless our team looses 🤬
Spain were the 'better' footballing side over 120mins but as i alluded to above, their finishing was terrible.
England's defense was also very good to be fair.
Then it went to penalties which is always a lottery. But again Spain's finishing let them down.
England's defense was also very good to be fair.
Then it went to penalties which is always a lottery. But again Spain's finishing let them down.
Last edited:
Just realised something as well, it is now 3 Euro's in a row Sarina Wiegman has won, 1st with the Netherlands in 2017, 2nd with England in 2022 and now a 3rd with England again in 2025. What a manager. She has now equalled that of Germany women's manager Tina Theune who won 3 in a row, 1997, 2001 and 2005.
I was watching the BBC's live reporting (a text based thing). On it the reporter said that Spain's usually reliable finishing was terrible and that England's defence was very very good.
Whilst they will be happy to see the women win, I can't help but think that the England's men team are a bit sick to their stomachs because their female counterparts are now won back to back Euro's and the men have won nothing.
Leah Willamson, England women captain now won back to back Euro's
Harry Kain, England men captain, won nothing
Not that he will be bothered because he earns something like 800 times more in wages than what Williamson does.
Leah Willamson, England women captain now won back to back Euro's
Harry Kain, England men captain, won nothing
Not that he will be bothered because he earns something like 800 times more in wages than what Williamson does.
Apples to Oranges tbf. Men's game is a different ball game and is much tougher (yes the women's game is tough too)
But i see your point. And England should've converted one of the finals they've been in.
But maybe Tuchel will get them over the line.
Although i have France winning the WC on my bingo card.
Also is that football for the 24/25 season completed with that final whistle.
But i see your point. And England should've converted one of the finals they've been in.
But maybe Tuchel will get them over the line.
Although i have France winning the WC on my bingo card.
Also is that football for the 24/25 season completed with that final whistle.
It is not Apples to Oranges. The men play men and the women play women, they are both on an equal footing within there respective gender. Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, are all extremely good strong women teams. France, Spain, Germany, Belgium are all good strong men's teams and yet the England women can beat their strongest opposition but England's men team cannot.
I think its Apple's to Oranges in terms of the level of intensity which differs given the physical differences. And i find the men's game is generally less forgiving.
Some errors i saw today wouldn't go unpunished in the men's game for sure.
But like i mentioned, i think England Men should've converted one of the finals they've been in. So thats on them.
Some errors i saw today wouldn't go unpunished in the men's game for sure.
But like i mentioned, i think England Men should've converted one of the finals they've been in. So thats on them.
Last edited:
Gyökeres was quite adamant in choosing Arsenal over any other club.
It was in fact one of reasons that delayed the deal.
I don't buy the argument that penalties are "a lottery".
You can practice and prepare for them, both physically and psychologically (as Gareth Southgate did with the England squad when he was manager).
However, in the context of a team game, what is interesting is that penalties shine an unforgiving light on the individual; in essence, they are a test of individual composure (in a team game, where one can no longer hide somewhere in the collective), a demanding and searching test of individual composure under intense (and unforgiving) pressure, usually at a time of the game when one is already exhausted.
And congratulations to the Lionesses, who were superb for England, - that is a fantastic victory - terrific players, deserving winners, and incredible role models.
My opinion is similar.
There's of course an uncontrollable element (call it luck) but the training, mental condition, player selection make it like any other movement, set piece or skill to be honed in training.
One thing that can be said is that there's a statistical advantage for the team that starts the shootout.
There's of course an uncontrollable element (call it luck) but the training, mental condition, player selection make it like any other movement, set piece or skill to be honed in training.
One thing that can be said is that there's a statistical advantage for the team that starts the shootout.
That is an excellent way to describe football. Yes it is a team game but it can also rely on the individual. Whilst some errors can be hidden during team play, not so when taking penalties. This is why I am always in awe of Matt Le Tissier because not only was he a very very good team player, he was also an exceptional individual ie, penalty taker, having only missed 1 penalty in his career. People always go on about the brilliance of Pele, Best, Messi and Ronaldo but not one of them is a match for Le Tissier when it comes to individual brilliance because all of them have missed a large number of penalties during their footballing career. When individual pressure is on, those top players floundered but not Le Tissier.
Edit: just did some checking, Let Tissier is still the worlds best ever penalty taker with a score percentage of 98%. The only player that comes closet is the 2nd best penalty taker in the world and that is Mexican footballer Cuauhtemoc Blanco with a score percentage of 97% (missed 2 penalties in his career)
Last edited:
Not one of them is a match for Matt Le Tissier for individual brilliance? I’d have to strongly disagree. He was a great player. An even better penalty taker. But not in the same league as those three.
Remember the context of individual brilliance is with regards to penalty taking and not football in general which is not what my post was about.
The context is as I quoted above. If you are saying he was a brilliant penalty taker (no argument there). Fine.
But that’s not what you wrote.
Ah well, I didn’t missed it, we just didn’t have the broadcasting-rights of the final, only.
But I followed it, for sure.
The rest of the tournament and all Sweden’s matches I could watch just fine.
So I’m happy with the choices that our national sport channel did in general.
No I’m w looking forward to Nation League matches.
Fixtures & results | UEFA Women's Nations League
From the group stage to the knockout rounds, find all of the official World Cup Women's Nations League fixtures and results here. Visit UEFA.com for more information.
Just read an interesting article in one of the UK's free papers (The Metro) about the transfer saga of viktor gyökeres. It is basically his agent having a rant about how the club Sporting atrociously behaved. Viktor also speaks out and according to him, there was a plan put in place between him and his agent about his future away from Coventry and that future was to move to a less exposure league (his words), win a couple of trophies and move to the premier league. When it was announced he wanted to leave Sporting and a number of clubs put their interests in, now we only have his word on this but but according to Viktor, out of all the clubs and the premier leagues clubs that put their interest in, when he heard Arsenal were interested, that is who he was interested in joining, he was not interested in anyone else but yet Sporting kept accepting interest from clubs when they knew there was only one club he wanted to move to. So all this baloney about Viktor wanting to join up with his old manager Amorim was a load of BS. He never wanted to join up with his ex manager Amorim.
I am sure the powers at be at United will be reading that article with interest because Sporting gave United the impression that they could get gyökeres but as it turns out from that article in the metro there was only one club he was interested in joining and that was Arsenal. So when United put in a bid for him gyökeres and his agent would have never agreed to move there because he wanted Arsenal.
Another thing that is interesting from the article is the issue about the gentleman's agreement that gyökeres had with the club which caused a huge issue and was played out in the media. It turns out this agreement was made with the previous sporting director, this is an excerpt from the article:
.‘There was a gentleman’s agreement with the previous sporting director. If Hugo Viana were still at Sporting, the deal would have been done in an hour.'. Now, anyone who knows a thing or too about this sort of thing, when Hugo Viana left, the gentleman's agreement he had with gyökeres and his agent becomes null and void because there is no legal requirement for the new sporting director to accept such agreements made by the previous sporting director. That means gyökeres and his agent did not have a leg to stand on but yet they went on a rant and used the pressure of the media to force Sporting to give them what they want.
Arsenal will probably be a bit peeved off because they will now be thinking they could have got gyökeres for a lot cheaper because gyökeres only wanted to go to Arsenal when he was told what clubs were interested in him but yet Sporting kept saying this club was interested or that club was interested and bids were going to go in fully well knowing all of what they were doing was BS because they knew gyökeres only wanted to go to one club, Arsenal.
source: https://metro.co.uk/2025/07/31/vikt...involving-manchester-united-arsenal-23795184/
I am sure the powers at be at United will be reading that article with interest because Sporting gave United the impression that they could get gyökeres but as it turns out from that article in the metro there was only one club he was interested in joining and that was Arsenal. So when United put in a bid for him gyökeres and his agent would have never agreed to move there because he wanted Arsenal.
Another thing that is interesting from the article is the issue about the gentleman's agreement that gyökeres had with the club which caused a huge issue and was played out in the media. It turns out this agreement was made with the previous sporting director, this is an excerpt from the article:
.‘There was a gentleman’s agreement with the previous sporting director. If Hugo Viana were still at Sporting, the deal would have been done in an hour.'. Now, anyone who knows a thing or too about this sort of thing, when Hugo Viana left, the gentleman's agreement he had with gyökeres and his agent becomes null and void because there is no legal requirement for the new sporting director to accept such agreements made by the previous sporting director. That means gyökeres and his agent did not have a leg to stand on but yet they went on a rant and used the pressure of the media to force Sporting to give them what they want.
Arsenal will probably be a bit peeved off because they will now be thinking they could have got gyökeres for a lot cheaper because gyökeres only wanted to go to Arsenal when he was told what clubs were interested in him but yet Sporting kept saying this club was interested or that club was interested and bids were going to go in fully well knowing all of what they were doing was BS because they knew gyökeres only wanted to go to one club, Arsenal.
source: https://metro.co.uk/2025/07/31/vikt...involving-manchester-united-arsenal-23795184/
Arsenal wouldn't have got it cheaper.
Sporting had a target price (which was significantly below the contract limit and with plenty of years to go) and probably would have compromised if the situation had been conducted properly. What's conducting properly? Creating discretely a win-win-win (seller, player, buyer) situation.
But the agent decided to play games with Sporting and therefore the president (Varandas) decided not to compromise one centimetre.
I don't fully understand how transfers work within the English league but dealing with Portugueses clubs which depend on buying cheap, developing players and selling higher whenever you decide that a good strategy is to sideline the club then things usually just aren't going to go your way.
The club president is not an employee. He was elected and if you did your homework you would know that he isn't very popular so he can't look weak.
In the mind of Sporting (fans or president) nobody cares if he only wanted Arsenal, in fact nobody really cares what he wants. The club is above any individual (player or not).
He either honours his contract, gets sold in an advantageous deal or gets sidelined until the contract ends. IF you don't want to contribute positively then your only worth is as an exemple on what not to do.
The agent (and undoubtedly the player) decided he was going to leave just because. They got lucky because Arsenal decided to spend enough to make the deal acceptable. But there wasn't any margin for discounts. The agent/player killed that since the beginning.
Perhaps you are thinking If those clubs depend so much on selling shouldn't they foster a climate were where buyers are always welcomed? Yes they should (my opinion). In fact Benfica, my club operates more like that. That strategy is not without criticism, Benfica is accused of compromising the team too much for high sales.
But like I said when they decided to put Sporting between a rock and an hard place they pretty much cornered themselves.
It seems to me Gyokeres agent isn't very good at his job.
Sporting had a target price (which was significantly below the contract limit and with plenty of years to go) and probably would have compromised if the situation had been conducted properly. What's conducting properly? Creating discretely a win-win-win (seller, player, buyer) situation.
But the agent decided to play games with Sporting and therefore the president (Varandas) decided not to compromise one centimetre.
I don't fully understand how transfers work within the English league but dealing with Portugueses clubs which depend on buying cheap, developing players and selling higher whenever you decide that a good strategy is to sideline the club then things usually just aren't going to go your way.
The club president is not an employee. He was elected and if you did your homework you would know that he isn't very popular so he can't look weak.
In the mind of Sporting (fans or president) nobody cares if he only wanted Arsenal, in fact nobody really cares what he wants. The club is above any individual (player or not).
He either honours his contract, gets sold in an advantageous deal or gets sidelined until the contract ends. IF you don't want to contribute positively then your only worth is as an exemple on what not to do.
The agent (and undoubtedly the player) decided he was going to leave just because. They got lucky because Arsenal decided to spend enough to make the deal acceptable. But there wasn't any margin for discounts. The agent/player killed that since the beginning.
Perhaps you are thinking If those clubs depend so much on selling shouldn't they foster a climate were where buyers are always welcomed? Yes they should (my opinion). In fact Benfica, my club operates more like that. That strategy is not without criticism, Benfica is accused of compromising the team too much for high sales.
But like I said when they decided to put Sporting between a rock and an hard place they pretty much cornered themselves.
It seems to me Gyokeres agent isn't very good at his job.
Am largely in agreement with @timber.
@laptech: This was an area where the interests of the club and the player were not the same.
The player wished to depart to pastures new, - well, one particular pasture, Arsenal (and I write this as an Arsenal supporter) whereas the club wished to obtain the highest possible price for him: Their interests could have converged but, in this particular instance, they didn't, not for quite some time, and that is down to the player, his advisers and agent - who could all have gone about this in a different way - not least, with greater discretion, for one thing.
This is because the thing about public ultimatums is that they leave your interlocutor with very little room for manoeuvre or negotiation, not without losing face or appearing weak.
And, for the tabloid media to persist in wittering on about a (no longer remotely relevant or valid) "gentleman's agreement", in the cut-throat world of elite football where the concept of loyalty has all too frequently been reduced to an embarrassing commodity, please, just please.
"Gentlemen's agreement" or not, Viktor Gyorkeres did not show respect for Sporting, who were, after all, his employers, and who were paying his (doubtless more than respectable) salary, and did not behave in a professional manner when plotting, planning and negotiating his departure.
While I am glad that Arsenal have acquired him, if I were a member of Arsenal's staff, (and we know that Arteta does not tolerate dissent), I would be mindful that we might yet see more public displays of disrespect if there is a difference of opinion as to the direction of the player's future while he is with Arsenal.
@laptech: This was an area where the interests of the club and the player were not the same.
The player wished to depart to pastures new, - well, one particular pasture, Arsenal (and I write this as an Arsenal supporter) whereas the club wished to obtain the highest possible price for him: Their interests could have converged but, in this particular instance, they didn't, not for quite some time, and that is down to the player, his advisers and agent - who could all have gone about this in a different way - not least, with greater discretion, for one thing.
This is because the thing about public ultimatums is that they leave your interlocutor with very little room for manoeuvre or negotiation, not without losing face or appearing weak.
And, for the tabloid media to persist in wittering on about a (no longer remotely relevant or valid) "gentleman's agreement", in the cut-throat world of elite football where the concept of loyalty has all too frequently been reduced to an embarrassing commodity, please, just please.
"Gentlemen's agreement" or not, Viktor Gyorkeres did not show respect for Sporting, who were, after all, his employers, and who were paying his (doubtless more than respectable) salary, and did not behave in a professional manner when plotting, planning and negotiating his departure.
While I am glad that Arsenal have acquired him, if I were a member of Arsenal's staff, (and we know that Arteta does not tolerate dissent), I would be mindful that we might yet see more public displays of disrespect if there is a difference of opinion as to the direction of the player's future while he is with Arsenal.
I doubt Arsenal will have much trouble.
Why? Because of several reasons.
Gyokeres has shown to be very profissional while on contract, there are players that are trouble all the time, that just isn't the case, it seems to me these shenanigans where related to the transfer, it also doesn't get much higher than Arsenal (and the EPL/CL) and he will be nearing 30 soon so if he succeeds at Arsenal it's doubtful he will have another "big move" possibility.
He either has success and stays for a few years and leaves cheaper because of age (Saudi Arabia or whoever is paying nice retirements at the time) or doesn't succeed and Arsenal will sell on discount to move forward.
I think he will succeed and fans will love him. But that's just my guess.
Just one more thing on the deal. If there was some sort of unwritten deal (and I believe there probably was) it was something along the line of (because it usually is) "we will sell you below the 100M clause if someone really nice comes along". And if you look at it ... that deal was honoured. Nobody would promise something like "we will sell to whoever comes along at whatever price despite having a perfectly legal contract just because".
Why? Because of several reasons.
Gyokeres has shown to be very profissional while on contract, there are players that are trouble all the time, that just isn't the case, it seems to me these shenanigans where related to the transfer, it also doesn't get much higher than Arsenal (and the EPL/CL) and he will be nearing 30 soon so if he succeeds at Arsenal it's doubtful he will have another "big move" possibility.
He either has success and stays for a few years and leaves cheaper because of age (Saudi Arabia or whoever is paying nice retirements at the time) or doesn't succeed and Arsenal will sell on discount to move forward.
I think he will succeed and fans will love him. But that's just my guess.
Just one more thing on the deal. If there was some sort of unwritten deal (and I believe there probably was) it was something along the line of (because it usually is) "we will sell you below the 100M clause if someone really nice comes along". And if you look at it ... that deal was honoured. Nobody would promise something like "we will sell to whoever comes along at whatever price despite having a perfectly legal contract just because".
Last edited:
I will not condemn Gyokeres or his agent action until I see the specifics of this 'gentleman's agreement' that Gyokeres had with the club because I have seen more times than I wanted to of situations where an employer has agreed to something with an employee, always something good only for the employer to go back on their word and shaft the employee. When this happens are people really expecting those who were shafted to take it and just go 'oh well, employer shafted me, must move on'. Hell no, you are you going to cause one hell of a ruckus. If you do not agree with that type of action then I respectively disagree with you.
If Gyokeres had a gentleman's agreement with the club and not personally with the sporting director which outlined the conditions of him leaving the club, if those conditions were met from a club wanting to buy him and the club turns around and say's 'nope, not going to happen' then as far as I'm concerned Gyokeres had every right to behave the way he did. some of you may not agree with it but I do.
If Gyokeres had a gentleman's agreement with the club and not personally with the sporting director which outlined the conditions of him leaving the club, if those conditions were met from a club wanting to buy him and the club turns around and say's 'nope, not going to happen' then as far as I'm concerned Gyokeres had every right to behave the way he did. some of you may not agree with it but I do.
Zlatan kept playing in our national team and in Milan until he was 41 - he also had a really good physic.
So I can’t see why Victor couldn’t have that long career as well? Especially if he avoid those nasty difficult injuries that can happen in football.
Time will tell....how long he stays in Arsenal, and what can possibly happen thereafter?
It's not really fair to set Ibrahimović as a threshold for anyone. He wasn't a regular or even a very good player. He was a step above and those players come along from time to time.
Gyökeres is also a very physical player, a beast in a good sense.
Let's wait and see what he can do, the EPL is very physically demanding but strikers nowadays peak after 30. If he's successful I can see him staying until 32/33.
Gyökeres is also a very physical player, a beast in a good sense.
Let's wait and see what he can do, the EPL is very physically demanding but strikers nowadays peak after 30. If he's successful I can see him staying until 32/33.